Bruce County and Saugeen Shores are growing into a “regional nuclear energy cluster”, fuelled by Bruce Power's $13 billion, 20-year plan to refurbish six of eight nuclear reactors at its Tiverton/Inverhuron site, slated to begin in 2020. Life of the plant will be extended with modernized equipment and systems to continue providing up to 30 percent of Ontario's energy.

Stellina Williams, an Energy Sector Specialist with the year-old joint Bruce County/Bruce Power economic development and innovation initiative, set up to ensure the benefits of the refurbishment were felt locally, told Saugeen Shores councillors the first round of work will create 120 projected supply chain jobs in the region over the next five years by the eight suppliers coming here.

She said many are initial companies are world-leaders with long-term experience with Bruce Power so “it just meant a lot of sense to come, and coming quickly,” Williams said at the Sept. 25 committee of the whole meeting.

She said Bruce County is poised to become “a bit of a regional nuclear engineering cluster” and it is working as supplier success stories include leases for seven office spaces for a total of 20,000 square feet, purchase of an existing manufacturing facility, servicing of land for development in several communities, and the sale of nine acres of land for new builds. One of those is an application by Ideal Supply Inc. for 703-square-foot facility at the south end of Port Elgin on Goderich St., north of CAW Rd.

Coun. Neil Menage said he'd heard a lot of “street chatter” about the need for a trade/technical skills training facility in Port Elgin, similar to the facility announced recently by a Bruce Power training facility in Kincardine.

“I'm sure if you would ask, we would lay down the red carpet, right now in this community and provide space for a new trades/learning centre,” Menage said.

Williams said the committee has supported 27 suppliers' planned expansions and have found space for nine and the others did not get a Bruce Power contract. She said the need is for both short and-long-term office space, warehousing and new build land.

Noting that Saugeen Shores has just four acres left in its Port Elgin business park, and two of those will house a new police headquarters, Coun. Mike Myatt asked Williams what Saugeen Shores may be lacking in terms of available space.

Williams said in the first year no one had office space sitting ready for suppliers wanting to expand, and unfortunately it unfolded as “wait and hurry up scenario” as companies learned if they'd received Bruce Power work."Ready to dig land, I think, will be critical for future growth of existing suppliers...” she said.

William's report showed that in Saugeen Shores, six options had been provided to six supplier inquiries for office space; two options were provided to nine suppliers looking for warehouse/manufacturing space; and land options were offered to two supplier inquiries.

This data led Deputy Mayor Luke Charbonneau to question the link between the Bruce County/Bruce Power initiative and efforts by the Town's economic development staff to make a pitch to a prospective supplier looking in this area.

Williams said initial stages include information sharing, including an inventory of what is available, is key and they work closely with Saugeen Shores staff to create a “level playing field” and not pit areas in the region against one another.

“There are still opportunities to present reasons why Saugeen Shores may be a better location without getting engaged early in this process,” Williams said.

Coun. Myatt repeated his question about what else Saugeen Shores could do to attract business, prompting Town CAO David Smith to say a number of elements are required to successfully bring development to town, or anywhere in the County. He said a successful developer forum to connect the players has been recently expanded to include local financial institutions because not everyone has “deep pockets” and can build on speculation.

Mayor Mike Smith praised Williams for the quick and effective progress of the year-old economic development and innovation initiative, noting it had never been done at the County level.

"We missed the opportunity at the first restart - but this one, I think we are well-positioned to see some success…" Smith said.